Museums work to ban boredom from winter break

Phyllis A.S. Boros

Published 2:00 pm, Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Numerous museums around the state are offering special programs for children during the upcoming school vacation. Above, a youngster explores an exhibit at The Discovery Museum in Bridgeport.
Photo: Contributed Photo

Numerous museums around the state are offering special programs for...

Numerous museums around the state are offering programs designed for children during the upcoming school vacation. Above are two Stamford girls viewing the Alaska brown bear diorama at the Yale Peabody Museum.
Photo: Contributed Photo

Numerous museums around the state are offering programs designed for children during the upcoming school vacation. Above a boy checks out the kudzu display at the Yale Peabody Museum in New Haven.
Photo: Contributed Photo

Numerous museums around the state are offering programs designed...

Visitors check out one of the most popular displays at the Yale Peabody Museum: the 150-million-year-old fossil skeleton of an Apatosaurus (formerly known as a Brontosaurus).

As just about every adult knows, a bored, cranky kid can be a handful.

To avoid chaos during the upcoming school vacation week between Christmas and New Year's Day, families may want to consider checking out the state's museums -- several of which have designed numerous programs, exhibits and events to amuse, engage, entertain and enlighten area children.

Here's a sampling; all charge entry fees. For more information on hours and prices, contact each site.

The Connecticut Science Center, 250 Columbus Blvd., Hartford. 860-SCIENCE; www.CTScienceCenter.org. From Dec. 26-30 the center will have extended hours: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. It's the last chance to see the "Strange Matter" exhibit that closes Jan. 1. Sponsored in Hartford by United Technologies Corp., the exhibit explores the "sometimes bizarre world of modern materials." Visitors will be encouraged to "smash glass, crush a can, have fun with foam." (Included in general admission.)

Fairfield Museum and History Center, 370 Beach Road, Fairfield. http://www.fairfieldhistory.org; 203-259-1598. A great family exhibition is the museum's "Promise of Freedom: The Emancipation Proclamation," which would make an "ideal complement to Steven Spielberg's ground-breaking movie, `Lincoln,' " noted spokesman Steven Gaynes, adding that the movie follows "the war-weary president's strategic journey from ... the Emancipation Proclamation, signed Jan. 1, 1863, to the final passage of the 13th Amendment, which abolishes slavery."

"Freedom" includes a rare copy of the Emancipation Proclamation and "an even rarer copy" of the 13th Amendment, signed by Lincoln and the members of the House and Senate who voted for it. Both documents are on loan to the museum from a private collection, he said. Tickets: $5, $3 for seniors and for students age 6-22.

Discovery Museum, 4450 Park Ave., Bridgeport. discoverymuseum.org; 203-372-3521. On view in the major exhibit gallery is "Color Play" -- for toddlers to adults -- that explores the art and science of color while underscoring innovation as key to success in one's life and career.

Throughout the break, "make-and-take tables" will be set up throughout the main level. Children will be invited to participate in science craft activities. Science demonstrations will be offered Dec. 26-28 at noon and 2:45 p.m. Its planetarium schedule for Dec. 26-28 will be: 11 a.m. and 2 p.m., "The Little Star that Could," age 7 and younger, 35 minutes; 1 p.m., "Dawn of the Space Age," age 8 and older, 40 minutes; 3:30 p.m., "Hubble Vision II," ages 8 and older, 20 minutes. All events are included in the price of admission; tickets $9.50, $8 children, seniors and college students. Children 2 and younger are free.

Yale Peabody Museum, 170 Whitney Ave., New Haven. 203 432-5050; peabody.yale.edu. The museum's new exhibit, "Seasons of Change: Global Warming in Your Backyard," features "computer games, videos, hands-on specimens and activities for the family," said spokeswoman Melanie Brigockas. "One game uses a global map as a game board and the whole family can play. The players make moves that can increase or reduce the damaging effects of climate change and as a result change the global landscape of the future."

Children will be invited "to make rubbings of the leaves from the five tree species most commonly found in New England forests today. They will learn how global warming/climate change is affecting those species. At another station, visitors can move a joystick to find out what happens when a powerful hurricane hits Boston ... (with) worst-case conditions: high tide and maximum storm surge. Then they can compare coastal flooding today with what would happen in 2100 when sea levels could be 6 ½ feet higher if we do nothing to reduce greenhouse gas emissions," she said.

The Discovery Room will feature hands-on activities and "touch" specimens, such as frogs, snakes and leaf-cutter ants. Also on view are "11 exquisite dioramas depicting North American animal habitats," and in the Peabody's Great Hall is the 70-foot-long, 150-million-year-old fossil skeleton of an Apatosaurus (formerly known as a Brontosaurus).

As Director Gregg Dancho points out, winter is a great time for families to visit the only zoo in the state. Not only is it less crowded than in summer, the animals tend to be more active in cooler temperatures.

New England Air Museum, Bradley International Airport, 36 Perimeter Road, Windsor Locks. 860-623-3305; www.neam.org. Family Fun Days are planned for Dec. 26-30. Daily activities include demonstrations about the science of flight, and visitor onboard access to one or more aircraft in the collection. Also, between noon-4 p.m., visitors may use simulators to virtually fly any aircraft using real cockpit controls.

Additional activities include: Wednesday, Dec. 26, visitors can step into a room full of Legos and create a "fantastic flying machine." Prizes will be awarded for the best creation. On Thursday, Dec.27, the museum will host an Open Cockpit program with about six aircraft (including helicopters, an airliner, a jet fighter and a World War II aircraft). All cockpits will close at 4 p.m. Visitors can also build and fly a model glider with local experts from the Academy of Model Aeronautics; there is an additional fee for the model kit, which takes about an hour to assemble. It's designed for children 8 and older. (Last session of the day begins at 1:45 p.m.) On Friday, Dec. 28, guests will be on hand to teach visitors how to draw aircraft. Activities are included with the price of admission, except where noted.

Bruce Museum, 1 Museum Drive, Greenwich. 203-869-0376; brucemuseum.org. School Vacation Workshops: Desert Dyeing and Weaving will be offered Thursday, Dec. 27, and Friday, Dec. 28, 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. In these hands-on art workshops (designed for students in grades one to three), kids will explore the "Extreme Habitats: Living Desert Dry" exhibit and then dye their own wool yarns and weave them into belts. Each workshop is a complete program, but the two projects are complementary and suitable for students of all abilities, museum staff said. Cost is $7 per child, including all materials. Reservations are required.